about. I say, Mr. Scraggs, get the
other glass and take a squint at them; you are further sighted than I
am."

"You're right: they are killin' one another up yonder," observed
Scraggs, surveying the group on the cliffs with calm indifference.

"Here comes the breeze," exclaimed Manton, with a look of satisfaction.
"Now, look alive, lads; we shall be close on the nigger village in five
minutes: it's just round the point of this small island close ahead.
Come, Mr. Scraggs, we've other business on hand just now than squinting
at the scrimmages of these fellows."

"Hold on," cried Scraggs, with a grin; "I do believe they're going to
pitch a fellow over that cliff. What a crack he'll come down into the
water with, to be sure. It's to be hoped the poor man is dead, for his
own sake, before he takes that flight. Hallo!" added Scraggs, with an
energetic shout and a look of surprise; "I say, that's one of _our_ men;
I know him by his striped flannel shirt. If he would only give up
kicking for a second, I'd make out his--Humph! it's all up with him,
now, poor fellow, whoever he is."

As he said the last words, the figure of a man was seen to shoot out
from the cliff, and, descending with ever-increasing rapidity, to strike
the water with terrific violence, sending up a jet of white foam as it
disappeared.

"Stand by to lower the gig," shouted Manton.

"Aye, aye, sir," was the hearty response of the men, as some of them
sprang to obey.

"Lower away!"

The boat struck water, and its crew were on the thwarts in a moment. At
the same time the point of the island was passed, and the native village
opened up to view.

"Load Long Tom--double shot!" roared Manton, whose ire was raised not so
much at the idea of a fellow-creature having been so barbarously
murdered as at the notion of one of the crew of his schooner having been
so treated by contemptible niggers. "Away, lads, and pick up that man."

"It's of no use," remonstrated Scraggs; "he's done for by this time."

"I know it," said Manton, with a fierce oath; "bring him in, dead or
alive. If the sharks leave an inch of him, bring it to me. I'll make the
black villains eat it raw."

This ferocious threat was interlarded with and followed by a series of
terrible oaths, which we think it inadvisable to repeat.

"Starboard!" he shouted to the man at the helm, as soon as the boat shot
away on its mission of mercy.

"Starboard it is."

"Steady!"

While he gave these orders, Manton sighted the brass gun carefully, and,
just as the schooner's head came up to the wind, he applied the match.

Instantly a cloud of smoke obscured the center of the little vessel, as
if her powder magazine had blown up, and a deafening roar went ringing
and reverberating from cliff to cliff as two of the great iron shot were
sent groaning through the air and pitched right into the heart of the
village.

It was this tremendous shot from Long Tom, followed almost
instantaneously by the broadside of the Talisman, that saved the life of
Alice,--possibly the lives of her young companions also; that struck
terror to the hearts of the savages, causing them to converge towards
their defenseless homes from all directions, and that apprised Ole
Thorwald and Henry Stuart that the assault on the village had commenced
in earnest.

CHAPTER XIV.

GREATER MYSTERIES THAN EVER--A BOLD MOVE AND A NARROW ESCAPE.

We return now to the Talisman.

The instant the broadside of the cruiser burst with such violence, and
in such close proximity, on Manton's ears, he felt that he had run into
the very jaws of the lion; and that escape was almost impossible. The
bold heart of the pirate quailed at the thought of his impending fate,
but the fear caused by conscious guilt was momentary; his constitutional
courage returned so violently as to render him reckless.

It was too late to put about and avoid being seen; for, before the shot
was fired, the schooner had already almost run into the narrow channel
between the island and the shore. A few seconds later, she sailed
gracefully into view of the amazed Montague, who at once recognized the
pirate vessel from Gascoyne's faithful description of her, and hurriedly
gave orders to load with ball and grape, while a boat was lowered in
order to slew the ship more rapidly so as to bring her broadside to bear
on the schooner.

To say that Gascoyne beheld all this unmoved would be to give a false
impression of the man. He knew the ring of his great gun too well to
require the schooner to come in sight in order to convince him that his
vessel was near at hand. When, therefore, she appeared, and Montague
turned to him with a hasty glance of suspicion and pointed to her, he
had completely banished every trace of feeling from his countenance, and
sat on the taffrail puffing his cigar with an air of calm satisfaction.
Nodding to Montague's glance of inquiry, he said:

"Aye, that's the pirate. I told you he was a bold fellow; but I did not
think he was quite so bold as to attempt _this_!"

To do Gascoyne justice, he told the plain truth here; for, having sent a
peremptory order to his mate, by John Bumpus, not to move from his
anchorage on any account whatever, he was not a little surprised as well
as enraged at what he supposed was Manton's mutinous conduct. But, as we
have said, his feelings were confined to his breast; they found no index
in his grave face.

Montague suspected, nevertheless, that his pilot was assuming a
composure which he did not feel; for from the manner of the meeting of
the two vessels, he was persuaded that it was as little expected on the
part of the pirates as of himself. It was with a feeling of curiosity,
therefore, as to what reply he should receive, that he put the question,
"What would Mr. Gascoyne advise me to do _now_?"

"Blow the villains out of the water," was the quick answer. "I would
have done so before now, had I been you."

"Perhaps you might, but not _much_ sooner," retorted the other, pointing
to the guns which were ready loaded, while the men stood at their
stations, matches in hand, only waiting for the broadside to be brought
to bear on the little vessel, when an iron shower would be sent against
her which must, at such short range, have infallibly sent her to the
bottom.

The mate of the pirate schooner was quite alive to his danger, and had
taken the only means in his power to prevent it. Close to where his
vessel lay, a large rock rose between the shore of the large island and
the islet in the bay which has been described as separating the two
vessels from each other. Owing to the formation of the coast at this
place, a powerful stream ran between the rock and this islet at low
tide. It happened to be flowing out at that time like a mill-race.
Manton saw that the schooner was being sucked into this stream. In other
circumstances, he would have endeavored to avoid the danger; for the
channel was barely wide enough to allow even a small craft to pass
between the rocks; but now he resolved to risk it.

He knew that any attempt to put the schooner about would only hasten the
efforts of the cruiser to bring her broadside to bear on him. He also
knew that, in the course of a few seconds, he would be carried through
the stream into the shelter of the rocky point. He therefore ordered the
men to lie down on the deck; while, in a careless manner, he slewed the
big brass gun round, so as to point it at the man-of-war.

Gascoyne at once understood the intended maneuver of his mate; and, in
spite of himself, a gleam of triumph shot from his eyes. Montague
himself suspected that his prize was not altogether so sure as he had
deemed it; and he urged the men in the boat to put forth their utmost
efforts. The Talisman was almost slewed into position, when the pirate
schooner was observed to move rapidly through the water, stern foremost,
in the direction of the point. At first Montague could scarcely credit
his eyes; but when he saw the end of the main boom pass behind the
point, he became painfully alive to the fact that the whole vessel
would certainly follow in the course of a few seconds. Although the most
of his guns were still not sufficiently well pointed, he gave the order
to fire them in succession. The entire broadside burst in this manner
from the side of the Talisman, with a prolonged and mighty crash or
roar, and tore up the waters of the narrow channel.

Most of the iron storm passed close by the head of the pirate. However,
only one ball took effect; it touched the end of the bowsprit, and sent
the jib-boom into the air in splinters. Manton applied the match to the
brass gun almost at the same moment, and the heavy ringing roar of her
explosion seemed like a prolonged echo of the broadside. The gun was
well aimed; but the schooner had already passed so far behind the point
that the ball struck a projecting part of the cliff, dashed it into
atoms, and, glancing upwards, passed through the cap of the Talisman's
mizzen-mast, and brought the lower yard, with all its gear, rattling
down on the quarter-deck. When the smoke cleared away, the Avenger had
vanished from the scene.

To put the ship about, and follow the pirate schooner, was the first
impulse of Montague; but, on second thought, he felt that the risk of
getting on the rocks in the narrow channel was too great to be lightly
run. He therefore gave orders to warp the ship about, and steer round
the islet, on the other side of which he fully expected to find the
pirate. But time was lost in attempting to do this, in consequence of
the wreck of the mizzen-mast having fouled the rudder. When the Talisman
at last got under way, and rounded the outside point of the islet, no
vessel of any kind was to be seen.

Amazed beyond measure, and deeply chagrined, the unfortunate captain of
the man-of-war turned to Gascoyne,